ROBBINSVILLE: Town ‘adopts’ a new sister community

Mayor says community will help Sea Bright get back on its feet

By Charley Falkenburg, Special Writer
   ROBBINSVILLE — The municipality will be lending a helping hand to Sea Bright to assist the hurricane-battered shore town in getting back on its feet.
   Mayor Dave Fried announced at the Jan. 10 Township Council meeting that Robbinsville will take Sea Bright under its wing for the next six to eight months to help the shore community face the daunting challenges of rebuilding after the destruction from Hurricane Sandy.
   Hurricane Sandy hit Sea Bright hard in October, obliterating 75 percent of homes and 100 percent of the business district in the 1-square mile community in Monmouth County.
   Mayor Fried said he thought it was time to step in and help because Sea Bright has only a part-time inspector, overburdened Public Works and engineering departments and many residents without homes.
   ”I volunteered just about everyone on our staff, and I’m going to be asking some folks for some help,” Mayor Fried said. “I think it’s the right thing to do.”
   Why Sea Bright? Mayor Fried said several weeks after Sandy struck, he spoke with state officials about the different shore towns that were hardest hit by the hurricane and asked which one Robbinsville might be able to help. After reviewing the state’s recommendations, he decided Sea Bright’s size presented Robbinsville with the best opportunity to make the biggest impact.
   ”They’re smaller than us so we can provide resources they may not have,” Mayor Fried said Monday.
   Once he got in touch with Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long and heard her story, it reaffirmed Sea Bright was the right choice, he said.
   Mayor Long, like Mayor Fried, is a part-time mayor who also has a full-time job. However, after the hurricane, she was tasked with juggling not only her own job and rebuilding her town, but rebuilding her personal life and her destroyed home.
   ”When I heard her story, I knew that’s the town I wanted to help,” Mayor Fried said. “I can only imagine trying to put your own personal life back together while you’re trying to put your own town back together and still manage your own job.”
   Mayor Long confirmed Monday that it hasn’t been easy. Although her home is still standing, it is “gutted to the studs,” and she’s going on 77 days and counting waiting to hear back on a settlement from her insurance company.
   ”People are having a hard time getting back to normal because they still can’t get home,” Mayor Long said.
   Getting Sea Bright residents back in their homes is her top priority, she said, followed by rebuilding Sea Bright’s infrastructure and downtown area.
   She expressed gratitude to have Robbinsville on her team, and she is talking with the Fried administration to figure out how Sea Bright’s needs match up with Robbinsville’s professional resources.
   ”The people of Sea Bright are very grateful and appreciate Mayor Fried and the people of Robbinsville for being willing to adopt Sea Bright during this very challenging time,” she said.
   Based on Mayor Long’s priorities, Mayor Fried said the township first would tackle the challenge of getting the homes inspected so people can start moving back in and fixing them. From there, they would send volunteers to help out Sea Bright’s Public Works Department and then focus on redeveloping the town’s commercial district. The next phase is to identify those who need extra help and go from there.
   This isn’t the first time Robbinsville helped out a town in need after a natural disaster. It rose to the occasion after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 by adopting Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
   With donated supplies from residents and community groups, tools, police cars and firefighter gear, Robbinsville volunteers made a caravan to Ocean Springs with three packed tractor-trailers donated by Robbinsville-based Bohren’s Moving and Storage.
   Mayor Fried said Sea Bright would be a long-term endeavor and had full confidence his residents would be more than ready to take on the challenge.
   ”One of the things that make me proud to be a mayor of this community is that every time I ask the residents to help, they always come through,” Mayor Fried said. “I’m always overwhelmed by what the residents are willing to do.”